THE  TREATMENT  OF 
WOMEN  and  CHILDREN 
IN  THE  CONGO  STATE 

T ■ ■■  - 


An  App  eal  to  the  Women  of 
the  United  States  of  America 


Selections  from  ix.  pamphlet  of  C.  D.  MOREL,  with 
comment  by  ROBERT  E.  PARK,  Ph.  D.,  of  the  Congo 
Reform  Association  


THE 


TREATMENT  OF 

WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN 

IN  THE  CONGO  STATE 

1895-1904 


An  Appeal  to  the  Women  of  the  United  . 
States  of  America 


Selections  from  a pamphlet  of  E.  D.  MOREL,  of  the 
Congo  Reform  Association  of  Great  Britain,  with 
comment  by  ROBERT  E.  PARK,  of  the 
American  Congo  Reform  Association 


BOSTON,  1904 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/treatmentofwomenOOcong 


TREATMENT  OF  THE  WOMEN  AND 
CHILDREN  IN  THE  CONGO  STATE 
1895  - 1904 


I 

Most  savages  in  most  respects  are  children  or  more 
properly  adolescents  of  adult  size.  Their  faults  and 
their  virtues  are  those  of  childhood  and  youth.  They 
need  the  same  careful  and  painstaking  study,  lavish  care 
and  adjustment  to  their  nature  and  needs.  The  inex- 
orable laws  of  forcing,  precocity,  severity,  and  over- 
work produce  similar  results  for  both.  Primitive 
peoples  have  the  same  right  to  linger  in  the  paradise 
of  childhood;  to  war  upon  them  is  to  war  upon  children. 
To  commercialize  and  oppress  them  with  work  is  child 
labor  on  a large  scale. 

G.  Stanley  Hall, 

Adolescence,  its  Psychology,  Physiology,  etc. 

Vol.  2,  page  649.  1904. 


NOTES  FROM  THE  DIARY  OF  AN  ENG- 
LISH TRAVELLER  IN  THE  CONGO, 

IN  1895. 

When  calamity,  in  the  shape  of  war,  famine, 
pestilence  or  economic  depression,  falls  upon  a 
people,  it  is  the  women  and  children  who  suffer 
most. 

What  is  true  among  civilized  is  also  true  among 
savage  peoples,  with  this  difference:  that  among 
savages  the  merciless  process  of  natural  selection, 

3 


Racial  Youth  Preserves  the  Negro 

of  which  warj  pestilence  and  famine  are  the  ap- 
propriate instruments,  is  more  ruthless  than  else- 
where. Again  it  is  the  women  and  children  who 
suffer  most. 

In  recent  years  a great  calamity  has  come  upon 
the  peoples  of  the  Congo  basin.  These  peoples, — 
for  there  are  hundreds  of  different  tribes  inhabit- 
ing the  broad  valley  of  the  Congo  and  its  tribu- 
taries,— who  display  in  their  character  and 
temperament  more  than  any  other  race  the  apti- 
tudes and  manners  of  children,  have  for  centuries 
been  subjected  to  the  cruel  oppressions  of  the 
slave  trade,  but  they  have  survived.  Their  racial 
youth  and  habitual  light-heartedness  have  pre- 
served them  under  hardships  which,  in  the  course 
of  a few  generations,  have  swept  other  savage 
races  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

But  in  recent  years  a Power  more  relentless 
and  more  destructive  than  that  of  the  Arab  slave 
trade  which  it  superseded  has  arisen  in  Congoland. 
Armed  with  all  the  machinery  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion, railways,  telegraph  lines  and  weapons  of 
precision;  steeled,  against  all  human  feeling  of 
pity,  by  a blind  and  well-nigh  fanatical  belief  in 
material  progress  for  its  own  sake,  this  great  new 
Power  has  spread  itself  systematically  and  re- 
morselessly, with  incredible  waste  of  native  life, 
over  the  land  and  the  peoples  of  the  Congo  basin, 
crushing  out,  with  a hurried  and  irreverent  greed 
for  “results,”  the  social  institutions,  the  lives  and 
the  very  desire  for  existence  of  the  peoples  that  it 
gave  the  most  solemn  pledges  to  protect.  In  the 
place  of  the  native  institutions  this  same  Power 
has  erected  a tinsel  civilization  foreign  to  the  soil, 
the  people  and  every  permanent  interest  of 
humanity  and  true  civilization  in  that  region. 

In  this  process  of  so-called  “moral  and  material 
regeneration”  of  the  country,  it  is  again  the  women 

4 


Excerpts  from  the  Diar^  of  E.  f.  Clave 

and  children  who  have  suffered  most.  Volumes  of 
testimony  have  been  gathered  together  to  show  the 
evil  effects  of  the  cruel  system  under  which  the 
country  is  at  present  administered.  In  the  brief 
citations  which  follow  it  is  not  possible  to  give  an 
understanding,  but  it  may  be  possible  to  arouse 
interest, — or  at  least  to  dispel  the  indifference 
with  which  we  in  America  have  aceustomed  our- 
selves to  look  upon  the  fate  of  the  black  people  of 
equatorial  Africa.  The  exeerpts  whieh  are  given 
in  the  article  which  follows  are  taken  from  the 
journal  of  E.  J.  Glave,  who  went  out  to  Africa  in 
1883  as  a member  of  the  International  Assoeiation, 
of  which  Henry  M.  Stanley  was  the  agent.  After 
working  in  the  country  for  nearly  six  years,  Glave 
returned  to  England  in  1889-  In  1894* *  he  went 
back  to  Africa,  this  time  as  an  “independent  travel- 
ler anxious  to  observe  and  report  faithfully  upon 
the  general  condition  of  things  in  the  country.” 
He  never  returned  from  that  last  visit  in  Africa, 
but  died  at  Matadi  on  May  12,  1895.  His  state- 
ments are  the  more  important  as  they  are  the  com- 
ments of  a man  who  knew  the  country,  the  peo- 
ple and  their  possibilities,  and  described,  in  the 
light  of  the  aspirations  of  the  pioneers  whose 
labors  made  the  present  State  possible,  the  actual 
results  which  had  been  achieved  at  that  time  under 
the  rule  of  King  Leopold.* 

At  the  beginning  of  his  journey,  Glave  is  per- 
plexed and  incredulous  as  he  notes  the  contrast  be- 
tween actual  conditions  and  the  professed  aims 
and  ideals  that  were  proclaimed  to  the  world  when 
the  state  was  founded.  This  feeling  sloAvly  gives 
place  to  one  of  indignation  and  abhorrence  as  he 


* “His  conscientiousness,  his  inflexible  determination  to  do 
the  most  that  can  be  done  in  a given  period,  the  love  with 
which  he  sets  about  it,  and  the  absorbing  interest  it  has  for 
him,”  commended  him  to  Stanley,  in  whose  service  and  that 
of  the  Congo  government  he  spent  six  years. 

• 


Peaceful  Families  are  Broken  Up 

gradually  comprehends  that  these  conditions  are 
not  the  result  of  administrative  failures,  but  are 
due  to  a deliberate  policy  of  dealing  with  the  na- 
tives— a policy,  which  in  view  of  the  obligations 
assumed  by  the  Congo  government  at  the  time  it 
took  control  in  the  Congo  valley,  and  in  view  of  its 
constant  professions  of  benevolence  and  philan- 
thropy since  then,  seemed  to  him  to  indicate,  so  far 
as  international  public  opinion  is  concerned,  an  at- 
titude on  the  part  of  the  Congo  government  of 
cynical  and  systematic  hypocrisy. 

Writing  from  ^loliro  in  October,  1894,  Glave 
says: 

“The  Belgians  are  rather  free  at  flogging,  even 
women  are  not  exempt.” 

At  this  period  the  Congo  State  was  engaged  in 
substituting  for  Arab  rule,  which,  with  fearful 
slaughter,  and  much  profit  by  the  way  of  ivory 
loot  it  had  succeeded  in  extirpating,  its  own  bene- 
ficent administration.  This  is  what  Glave  found 
in  the  Eastern  district  where  the  Arab  power  had 
been  paramount:  “The  White  officer  of  Kamam- 
bare  has  commissioned  several  Wangwana  chiefs 
to  make  raids  in  the  country  of  the  Warua,and  bring 
him  the  slaves.  They  are  supposed  to  be  taken  out 
of  slavery  and  freed,  but  I fail  to  see  how  this  can 
be  argued  out.  They  are  taken  from  their  villages 
and  shipped  south  to  be  soldiers,’  workers,  etc.,  on 
the  stations,  and  what  wdre  peaceful  families  have 
been  broken  up  and  the  different  members  spread 
about  the  place.  They  have  to  be  made  fast  and 
guarded  for  transportation  or  they  would  all  run 
away.  This  does  not  look  as  though  the  freedom 
promised  had  any  seductive  prospects.” 

On  December  8,  1894,  he  wrote:  “The 

Manyema  soldiers  (Congo  State  troops)  complain 
that  the  native  hunters  do  not  go  after  elephants. 
Sungula  says  the  reason  is  that  when  the 

6 


Strings  of  Emaciated  Old  Women 

hunters  are  absent,  the  IManyema  soldiers  take 
their  rvives.  This  is  a heinous  offence  in  the  eyes 
of  the  natives,  who  have  a superstition  that,  if  the 
wife  does  not  remain  constant  when  the  husband 
is  away  fighting  or  hunting  dangerous  game,  the 
hunter  will  be  sure  to  suffer  serious  failure,  wounds 
or  death.  . . . This  is  no  reasonable  way  of 

settling  the  land,  it  is  merely  persecution.” 

Writing  from  the  important  government  station 
of  Kabambare  on  December  14,  Glave  remarked: 
‘Tn  stations  in  charge  of  white  men,  government 
officers,  one  sees  strings  of  poor,  emaciated  old 
women,  some  of  them  mere  skeletons,  working  from 
two  to  six,  tramping  about  in  gangs  with  a rope 
round  their  necks  and  connected  by  a rope  one  and 
a half  yards  apart.  They  are  prisoners  of  war. 
In  war  the  old  women  are  always  caught,  but 
should  receive  a little  humanity.  They  are  naked, 
except  for  a miserable  patch  of  cloth  in  several 
parts,  held  in  place  by  a string  round  the  waist. 
They  are  not  loosened  from  the  rope  for  any  pur- 
pose. They  live  in  the  Guardhouse  under  the 
charge  of  black  native  sentries,  who  delight  in 
slapping  and  ill-using  them.  Some  of  the  women 
have  babies,  but  they  go  to  work  just  the 
same.  They  form  indeed  a miserable  spectacle, 
and  one  wonders  that  old  women,  although  prison- 
ers of  war,  should  not  receive  a little  more  consid- 
eration; at  least  their  nakedness  might  be  hidden.” 
On  December  21  he  places  on  record  seeing  “an 
old  woman  prisoner  who  had  died,  being  dragged 
to  burial  by  her  fellotv  prisoners  in  the  rope  gang.” 
On  December  29,  writing  from  the  village  of 
Kestro,  he  describes  how  the  Government  soldiers 
have  taken  “nearly  all  the  women  and  children” 
from  the  villages  ruled-  over  by  the  Chief  Kitete. 

Early  in  January,  1895,  Glave  was  at  Bayonge. 
While  there,  a Government  expedition  arrived, 

7 


IV omen  “Deserters”  in  Chains 

fresh  from  fighting  the  Uzimbu  people.  “Many 
natives  are  said  to  have  been  killed  and  thirty 
prisoners  taken,  mostly  women.” 

These  incidents  were  invariably  connected  with 
the  Government  raids  for  ivory  or  in  forcing  the 
people  to  collect  rubber. 

On  January  24,  1895,  at  Riba-Riba,  Glave 
wrote:  “The  chain-gang  is  always  a disgusting 
sight  to  see,  as  those  confined  are  generally  old 
women,  reduced  to  skeletons  by  want  of  liberty, 
hard  treatment  by  the  sentries,  and  hunger.  Five 
women  who  had  deserted  were  in  chains  at  Riba- 
Riba;  all  were  cut  very  badly,  having  been  most 
severely  chicotted  or  flogged.” 

The  flogging  he  describes  very  minutely.  The 
chicotte  with  which  the  punishment  is  inflicted  is 
a terrible  weapon,  and  a few  blows  bring  blood. 
“To  flog  men  with  this  instrument,”  he  says,  “is 
bad  enough,  but  it  is  far  worse  when  inflicted  on 
women  and  children.  Small  boys  of  ten  and  twelve 
are  often  most  harshly  treated.  At  Kasongo  there 
is  a great  deal  of  cruelty  displayed.  I saw  two 
boys  very  badly  cut.  At  Nyangwe  and  Riba-Riba 
boys  are  punished  by  beating  on  the  hands.  I 
conscientiously  believe  that  a man  who  receives 
one  hundred  blows  is  often  nearly  killed,  and  has 
his  spirit  broken  for  life.” 

Travelling  down  the  Congo,  Glave  reached 
Basonko  at  the  mouth  of  the  Aruwimi.  Writing 
from  there  on  February  21,  1895,  he  reports: 
“The  natives  are  compelled  to  transport  in  their 
canoes  all  State  loads  for  nothing;  also  to  provide 
work  people  for  the  station,  generally  wo- 
men. . . . The  State  has  not  suppressed  slav- 
ery. . . , Arabs  were  sent  (by  the  Govern- 

ment) to  punish  the  natives;  many  women  and 
children  were  taken,  and  twenty-one  heads  were 
brought  to  the  falls  {Stanley  falls),  and  have 

8 


One  Hundred  Small  Slaves 


been  used  by  Captain  Rom  as  a decoration  round 
a flower-bed  in  front  of  his  house.” 

And  from  Coquilhatville  on  March  5 : 

“We  are  taking  down  (z.  e.,  on  the  Government 
steamer  on  which  he  travelled)  one  hundred 
slaves — mere  children — all  taken  in  unholy  wars 
against  the  natives.  . . . War  has  been 

waged  all  through  the  district  of  the  Equateur  and 
thousands  of  people  have  been  killed  and  homes 
destroyed.  This  forced  commerce  is  depopulating 
the  country.” 

The  next  entry  is: 

“Left  Equateur  at  1 1 o’clock  this  morning,  after 
taking  on  a cargo  of  one  hundred  small  slaves,  prin- 
pally  boys  seven  or  eight  years  old,  with  a few  girls 
among  the  batch,  all  stolen  from  the  natives.  The 
commissaire  of  the  district  (i.  e.,  the  Government 
official  in  supreme  charge)  is  a violent  tempered 
fellow.  While  arranging  to  take  on  the  hundred 
small  slaves,  a woman  who  had  charge  of  the 
youngsters  was  rather  slow  in  understanding  his 
orders;  he  sprang  at  her,  slapped  her  in  the  face, 
and,  as  she  ran  away,  kicked  her.  They  talk  of 
philanthropy  and  civilization!  Where  it  is  I do 
not  know.” 

From  Lukolela  on  March  8,  he  wrote: 

“Very  few  people  came  on  the  beach  to-day;  in 
old  times  crowds  thronged  the  place.  The  one 
hundred  youngsters  on  board  are  ill  cared  for  by 
the  State;  most  of  them  are  quite  naked,  with  no 
covering  for  the  night.  They  make  small  fires, 
and  huddle  round  these  for  warmth.  Many  are 
getting  the  germs  of  disease  sown  in  their  little 
bodies.  Their  offence  is  that  their  fathers  and 
mothers  fought  for  a little  independence.  Most 
white  officers  out  in  the  Congo  are  averse  to  the 
india-rubber  policy  of  the  State,  BUT  THE 
LAWS  COMMAND  IT.” 


9 


Fighting  Natives  to  Get  Rubber 


His  final  summing  up  of  the  sights  he  had  him- 
self witnessed,  he  wrote  at  Matadi  on  April  25, 
1895.  This  is  what  he  wrote: 

The  occupation  of  the  territories  of  the  Congo  Free 
State  by  the  Belgians  is  an  enormous  expense,  and  the 
Administration  is  making  most  frantic  efforts  to  obtain  a 
revenue.  . . . In  the  fighting  consequent  upon  this  policy, 
owing  to  the  inability  or  disinclination  of  the  natives  to 
bring  in  rubber,  slaves  are  taken — men,  women  and 
children,  called  in  State  documents  Liberes  (i.  e.,  freed 
slaves).  These  slaves  or  prisoners  are  most  of  them 
sent  down  stream,  first  to  Leopoldville.  There  the 
children  are  handed  over  to  a Jesuit  mission  to  be 
schooled,  and  to  receive  military  training  from  a State 
officer  established  at  the  mission  for  that  purpose.  In 
two  years  this  Catholic  mission  has  buried  three  hundred 
of  these  poor,  unfortunate  children,  victims  of  the  in- 
human policy  of  the  Congo  Free  State. 

On  the  ‘A’ille  de  Bruxelles,”  the  big  State  boat  upon 
which  I descended  the  Congo,  we  took  on  board  at  the 
Equateur  103  little  homeless,  motherless,  fatherless 
children,  varying  from  four  years  to  seven  or  eight, 
among  them  a few  little  girls.  Many  of  them  had 
frightful  ulcers,  which  showed  no  sign  of  having  been 
attended  to,  although  there  was  a State  doctor  at  the 
Equateurville  Statioir.  . . . As  they  were  huddled 
together  on  the  lower  decks  of  the  boat  on  the  damp, 
chill  mornings,  shivering  with  cold,  death  was  marking 
many  more  for  hasty  baptism  and  a grave  at  the  Jesuit 
mission  near  Leopoldville. 

If  the  Arabs  had  been  the  masters  it  would  be  styled 
iniquitous  trafficking  in  human  flesh  and  blood;  but  be- 
ing under  the  administration  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  it 
is  merely  a part  of  their  philanthropic  system  of  liber- 
ating the  natives. 

Mr.  Glave’s  story  was  written  in  the  winter  of 
ISQi  and  1895.  The  rubber  industry  of  the  Congo 
State  was  then  in  its  infancy.  There  was  still 
trade  with  the  natives.  What  has  followed? — we 
shall  see. 


10 


II 

Natives  of  Africa  cannot  be  taught  that  there  are 
blessings  in  civilization  if  they  are  permitted  to  be  op- 
pressed and  to  be  treated  as  unworthy  of  the  treatment 
due  to  human  beings,  to  be  despoiled  and  enslaved  at 
will  by  a licentious  soldiery.  The  habit  of  regarding  the 
aborigines  as  nothing  better  than  pagan  abid  or  slaves 
dates  from  Ibrahim  Pasha,  and  must  be  utterly  sup- 
pressed before  any  semblance  of  civilization  can  be  seen 
outside  the  military  settlements.  When  every  grain  of 
corn,  and  every  fowl,  sheep,  goat  and  cow  which  is  neces- 
sary for  the  troops  is  paid  for  in  sterling  money  or  its 
equivalent  in  necessary  goods,  then  civilization  will  be- 
come irresistible  in  its  influence,  and  the  gospel  even 
may  be  introduced;  but  without  impartial  justice,  both 
are  impossible,  certainly  never  when  preceded  and  ac- 
companied by  spoliation,  which  I fear  was  too  general 
a custom  in  the  Soudan. — Henry  M.  Stanley,  in 
preface  to  “Darkest  Africa.” 


REPORT  OF  AN  INDEPENDENT 
INVESTIGATOR. 

1904.. 

Glare’s  journal  was  first  given  to  the  world  in 
a series  of  articles  entitled,  “New  Conditions  in 
Central  Africa,”  published  in  the  “Century 
Magazine.”*  The  effect  of  these  revelations  upon 
the  public,  particularly  that  part  of  the  public 
that  had  hailed  with  enthusiasm  the  founding  of 
the  Free  State,  was  one  of  perplexed  incredulity. 


*Edward  James  Glave’s  account  of  his  observations  in  the 
Congo  State  were  first  printed  in  the  Century  Magazine.  There 
were  two  articles.  A first  article  entitled,  ‘‘New  Conditions  in 
Central  Africa,”  will  be  found  in  Vol.  53,  and  a second, 
“Cruelty  in  the  Congo  Free  State,”  in  Vol.  54. 

11 


Cannibals  as  Policemen 


The  tradition  that  the  Congo  State  was  a philan- 
thropic experiment  on  a grand  scale,  such  an  ad- 
venture in  disinterestedness  as  only  a king  would 
dare  conceive,  and  only  royal  munificence  could 
carry  out,  had  firmly  established  itself  in  the  public 
mind.  Glave  himself  w'as  at  first  loath  to  be- 
lieve the  stories  that  he  heard  upon  entering 
the  country,  and  it  was  only  after  his  own  eyes, 
ears,  and  every  other  sense  had  been  assailed  with 
the  horror  of  the  situation  that  he  began,  with  ris- 
ing indignation,  to  realize  the  truth.  Eight  years 
have  elapsed  since  Glave  visited  the  Congo. 
During  that  time  the  Congo  State  has  slowly,  but 
persistently,  extended  its  authority  and  the  rubber 
industry  over  the  whole  vast  territory  committed 
to  its  charge.  The  Arab  slave  trader  has  been 
driven  out,  the  State  slavery  has  been  substituted; 
the  tribal  wars  have  been  suppressed,  the  warlike 
cannibal  tribes  have  been  converted  into  State 
policemen,  armed  with  rifles,  and  allowed  to  wreak 
their  vengeance  on  their  inter-tribal  enemies  by 
compelling  them,  under  the  lash  and  rifle,  to  col- 
lect rubber  for  the  State.  A great  railway  has 
been  built  in  the  interior;  the  whole  country  has 
been  parcelled  out  to  large  companies,  who  collect 
rubber  as  a tax  for  the  State,  receiving  fifty  per 
cent,  of  the  profit  for  their  services;  an  army  of 
30,000  troops  aids  the  companies  in  collecting  the 
tax.  For  all  this  machinery  of  civilization,  the 
railway,  the  army,  companies  of  exploitation,  and 
the  superadded  judicial  and  administrative  ma- 
chinery that  these  entail — for  all  these  the  native 
pays  with  sweat  and  blood  and  decimating  hard- 
ships. 

For  eight  years,  at  an  appalling  expense  of  na- 
tive life,  the  rubber  industry  has  been  pushed 
forward  with  unflagging  energy.  Rubber  produc- 
tion has  increased,  trade  has  diminished,  and  the 
natives  have  disappeared. 

12 


A Persistent  Stream  of  Testimony 


During  this  time  “a  persistent  stream  of  testi- 
mony,” as  the  New  York  Sun  remarks,  has  con- 
tinued to  issue  from  the  heart  of  the  “Dark  Con- 
tinent.” This  testimony  has  been  upon  the  whole, 
neeessarily  that  of  easual  observation.  Naturally 
the  more  atroeious  incidents,  the  things  in  regard 
to  which  one  who  eomplained  might  hope  to  obtain 
a hearing  before  a vast  and  indifferent  inter- 
national publie,  as  a rule  take  plaee  far  from  the 
eyes  of  either  travellers  or  missionaries.  In  the 
ordinary  course  of  things  it  is  only  accident  that 
reveals  them.  The  more  familiar  and  less 
atrocious  wrongs  which  it  seems  useless  to  report 
to  a public  so  preoccupied  are  only  mentioned  in 
private  letters,  and  never  reach  the  great  public 
who  would  not  comprehend,  even  if  it  did  not  re- 
fuse to  listen  to  them. 

But  these  things  accumulate.  During  the  last 
two  years  certain  Protestant  missionaries  have  so 
taken  to  heart  the  sufferings  of  the  natives  that 
they  have  made  systematic  effort  to  get  detailed 
information  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  these 
facts  to  the  knowledge  of  the  civilized  world.  In 
July,  August  and  September,  1903,  Rev.  A.  E. 
Scrivener,  an  English  missionary  of  the  Baptist 
denomination,  made  an  expedition  into  the 
Domaine  de  la  Coxironne,  the  private  preserve  of 
the  King,  where  no  white  man,  not  an  agent  of  the 
king  or  one  of  his  companies,  is  ever  known  to 
have  been.  Since  then  systematic  observation  in 
other  quarters,  remote  from  the  mission  stations, 
has  been  made  by  other  missionaries.  Finally, 
owing  to  the  persistent  complaints  that  were  made 
to  it  through  mssionary  and  peace  societies,  who 
had  become  acquainted  with  the  situation  there,  the 
British  Government  sent  its  official  representative, 
Roger  Casement,  Consul  at  Boma,  on  an  expedi- 
tion into  the  interior  to  learn  to  what  extent  the 
complaints  constantly  reaching  it  could  be  es- 

13 


A Hospital  for  Natrves 


tablished  by  testimony.  His  report  is  un- 
doubtedly one  of  the  most  remarkable  official  docu- 
ments ever  issued,  and  seems  to  have  startled  for 
a moment  even  the  immovable  sovereign  of  the 
Congo. 

One  impression  made  upon  Mr.  Casement  in  his 
journey  into  the  interior  of  the  State  was  that  of 
the  appalling  diminution  of  the  population ; for  ex- 
ample, in  one  locality  he  says,  “During  the  rub- 
ber wars  the  population  has  decreased  sixty  per 
cent."  But  our  interest  is  only  with  his  testimony 
concerning  women  and  children. 

At  Leopoldville,  capital  of  the  State  for  the 
Upper  Congo,  he  thus  describes  a hospital  for 
natives : 

“'When  I visited  the  three  mud  huts  which  serve  as 
hospital,  all  of  them  dilapidated,  and  two  with  the 
thatched  roofs  almost  gone,  I found  seventeen  sleeping 
sickness  patients,  male  and  female,  lying  about  in  the 
utmost  dirt.  Most  of  them  were  Ijing  on  the  bare 
ground — several  out  on  the  pathway  in  front  of  the 
houses,  and  one,  a woman,  had  fallen  into  the  fire  just 
prior  to  my  arrival  (while  in  the  final,  insensible  stage 
of  the  disease),  and  had  burned  herself  very  badly.  She 
had  since  been  well  bandaged,  but  was  still  lying  out 
on  the  ground  with  her  head  almost  in  the  fire,  and  while 
I sought  to  speak  to  her,  in  turning,  she  upset  a pot  of 
scalding  water  over  her  shoulder.  All  of  the  seventeen 
persons  I saw  were  near  their  end,  and  on  my  second 
visit,  two  days  later,  the  19th  of  June,  I found  one  of 
them  lying  dead  out  in  the  open.”* 

Proceeding  up  river  Mr.  Casement  found  that 
the  population  of  certain  villages,  consisting  of 
240  persons,  all  told,  men,  rvomen  and  children, 
were  compelled  to  supply  Government  with  one 
ton  of  carefully  prepared  food-stuff s per  meek,  re- 


*This  “hospital,”  it  should  be  noted,  is  one  of  the  beneficent 
institutions  which  is  usually  mentioned  along  with  the  rail- 
ways, the  steamers  upon  the  river,  etc.,  as  marking  the 
process  of  civilization  in  the  Congo  State.  It  is  a fitting  illus- 
tration of  the  difference  which  may  exist  between  the  mere 
official  statement  and  the  actual  existing  thing. 

14 


Man^  Severed  Hands 


ceiving  in  remuneration  the  princely  sum  of  15s. 
lOd.  Much  of  the  work  entailed  in  providing  this 
Government  taxation  falls  to  the  rvomen. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  nature  of  the  taxation 
the  native  labors  under,  Mr.  Casement  gives  sev- 
eral instances,  among  them  that  of  the  village  of 
Mantaka. 

The  population  of  this  village  comprises  from 
600  to  800  men,  women  and  children,  who,  for 
“the  great  majority  of  the  days  throughout  the 
year”  are  compelled  to  be  busily  supplying  this 
gum-copal  tax,  which  appears  to  be  an  arduous 
labor.  The  village  of  Mantaka  supplies  six  and 
a half  tons  of  gum-copal  per  annum,  value  £364! 
(about  $1,750),  and  “each  adult  householder  re- 
ceived for  his  entire  year’s  work  Is.  4d.  {about  33 
cents),  the  value  of  a fowl  in  Mantaka.” 

Many  mutilated  people  whose  hands  had  been 
cut  off  by  soldiers  in  the  course  of  the  rubber  wars 
were  seen  by  Mr.  Casement,  and  specific  details 
covering  many  other  cases  were  furnished  to  him. 
He  mentions  particularly  two  cases  he  saw  per- 
sonally— one  of  a “young  boy,”  the  other  of  a 
“boy  not  more  than  12  years  of  age.”  An  “old 
woman,”  similarly  mutilated,  had  died  a few 
months  previous  to  Mr.  Casement’s  visit.  The 
circumstances  were  thus  described  to  Mr.  Case- 
ment by  her  niece: 

The  town  had  been  attacked  by  the  Government 
troops  and  all  had  fled,  pursued  into  the  forest.  This 
old  woman  (whose  name  was  V W)  had  fled  with  her 
son,  when  he  fell,  shot  dead,  and  she  herself  fell  down 
beside  him — she  supposed  she  fainted.  She  then  felt 
her  hand  being  cut  off,  but  had  made  no  sign.  When 
all  was  quiet  and  the  soldiers  had  gone,  she  found  her 
son’s  dead  body  beside  her  with  one  hand  cut  off  and 
her  own  also  taken  away. 

Mr.  Casement  makes  it  perfectly  clear  that  this 
hand-cutting  horror  is  not  a native  custom,  but  an 

15 


Tried  to  Sell  Her  Daughter 


exotic  introduced  by  Congolese  oflScials.  In  this 
he  is  confirmed  by  many  other  white  men  of  long 
acquaintanee  with  the  coimtry  and  its  people. 

In  another  town  close  by,  the  natives  com- 
plained that  during  a tax-collecting  visit  to  the 
town  a woman  had  been  shot  through  the  head  by 

a soldier.  “Another  woman  named  L , the 

wife  of  a man  named  M , had  been  taken 

away  by  the  native  sergeant  who  was  with  the 
soldiers.  He  had  admired  her,  and  so  took  her 
back  with  him  to  Coquilhatville.  Her  husband 
heard  she  had  died  there  of  smallpox,  but  he  did 
not  know  anything  of  her  circumstances  after  she 
had  been  taken  away.’’* 

In  one  of  the  villages  near  Coquilhatville,  the 
straits  to  which  the  natives  are  put  in  this  re- 
spect was  brought  to  the  notice  of  Mr.  Casement. 
He  writes: 

A father  and  mother  stepped  out,  and  said  they  had 
been  forced  to  sell  their  son,  a little  boy,  for  1,000  rods, 
to  meet  their  share  of  the  fine.  A widow  came,  and  de- 
clared she  had  been  forced,  in  order  to  meet  her  share 
of  the  fine,  to  sell  her  daughter,  a little  girl  who,  I 
judged  from  her  description,  to  be  about  ten  years  of 

age.  She  had  been  sold  to  a man  named  Y , who  was 

named,  for  1,000  rods,  which  had  then  gone  to  make  up 
the  fine.  The  little  girl,  our  Consul  subsequently  ascer- 
tained, had  again  changed  hands,  and  was  promised  in 
sale  to  a town  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Congo,  named 
Iberi,  whose  people  are  said  to  be  still  open  cannibals. 

Continuing  his  journey.  Consul  Casement 
passed  up  the  Lulongo  and  Lopori  rivers.  He 
gives  an  extract  from  a diary  shown  him  by  a 
gentleman  who  had  recorded  the  impressions  made 
upon  him  by  conversation  with  one  “M.  P.,’’  a 
government  official. 


*The  names  of  places  and  persons  designated  in  Mr.  Case- 
ment’s published  report  by  letters  have  been  withheld  until  the 
Congo  government  is  willing  to  give  proper  guarantees  that  the 
witnesses  will  be  protected  from  the  persecutions  of  the  officers 
against  whom  they  have  testified. 

16 


A Hand  for  Ever^  Cartridge 


Each  time  the  corporal  goes  out  to  get  rubber, 
cartridges  are  given  him.  He  must  bring  back  all  not 
used,  and  for  every  one  used  he  must  bring  back  a right 
hand.  M.  P.  told  me  that  sometimes  they  shot  a 
cartridge  at  an  animal  in  hunting;  they  then  cut  oif  a 
hand  from  a living  man.  As  to  the  extent  to  which  this 
is  carried  on,  he  informed  me  that  in  six  months  the 
State  on  the  Mambogo  river,  had  used  6,000  cartridges, 
which  means  that  6,000  people  are  killed  or  mutilated.  It 
means  more  than  6,000,  for  the  people  hate  told  me  re- 
peatedly that  the  soldiers  kill  the  children  with  the  butt 
of  their  guns. 

Mr.  Casement  next  chose  for  his  inspection  a 
little  village  on  the  main  stream  of  the  Lulongo 
river,  designated  in  the  official  report  as  Q.  He 
says : 

I chose  for  the  next  inspection  a town  lying  some- 
what off  this  beaten  track,  where  my  coming  would  be 
quite  unexpected.  Steaming  up  a small  tributary  of  the 
Lulongo,  I arrived,  unpreceded  by  any  rumor  of  my 
coming,  at  the  village  of  A.**  In  an  open  shed  1 found 
two  sentries  of  the  La  Lulanga  Company  guarding 
fifteen  native  women,  five  of  whom  had  infants  at  the 
breast,  and  three  of  whom  were  about  to  become  mothers. 

The  chief  of  these  sentries,  a man  called  S , who  was 

bearing  a double-barrelled  shot-gun,  for  which  he  had 
a belt  of  cartridges,  at  once  volunteered  an  explana- 
tion of  the  reason  for  these  women's  detention.  Pour 
of  them,  he  said,  were  hostages  who  were  being  held  to 
insure  the  peaceful  settlement  of  a dispute  between  two 
neighboring  towns,  which  had  already  cost  the  life  of  a 
man.  His  employer,  the  agent  of  the  La  Lulanga 
Company  at  B**  near  by,  he  said,  had  ordered  these 
women  to  be  seized  and  kept  until  the  Chief  of  the  of- 
^ fending  town  to  which  they  belonged  should  come  in  to 
talk  over  the  palaver. 

The  remaining  eleven  women,  whom  he  indicated,  he 
said  he  had  caught  and  was  detaining  as  prisoners  to 
compel  their  husbands  to  bring  in  the  right  amount  of 
india-rubber  required  of  them  on  next  market  day. 
When  I asked  if  it  was  a woman’s  work  to  collect  india- 
rubber,  he  said,  “No;  that,  of  course,  is  a man’s  work.” 
“Then  why  do  you  catch  the  women  and  not  the  men?” 
I asked.  “Don’t  you  see,”  was  the  answer,  “if  I caught 
and  kept  the  men,  who  would  work  the  rubber?  But  if 

17 


Women  Tied  Neck  to  Neck  at  Night 


I catch  their  wives^  the  husbands  are  anxious  to  have 
them  home  again,  and  so  the  rubber  is  brought  in  quickly 
and  quite  up  to  the  mark.” 

Mr.  Casement  eontinues: 

At  nightfall  the  fifteen  women  in  the  shed  were  tied 
together,  either  neck  to  neck  or  ankle  to  ankle,  to  secure 
them  for  the  night,  and  in  this  posture  I saw  them  twice 
during  the  evening.  They  were  then  trying  to  huddle 
around  a fire.  In  the  morning  the  leading  sentry,  before 
leaving  the  village,  ordered  his  companion  in  my  hearing 
to  “keep  close  guard  on  the  prisoners.”  I subsequently 
discovered  that  this  sentry,  learning  that  1 was  not,  as 
he  had  at  first  thought,  a missionary,  had  gone  or  sent 
to  inform  his  employer  at  C**  that  a strange  white  man 
was  in  the  town. 

When  walking  in  the  grounds  of  the  Abir 
Trust,  upon  which  the  State  has  conferred  the  ex- 
clusive “exploitation”  of  the  territories  within  the 
Lopori  and  Maringa  valleys,  Mr.  Casement  made 
the  following  observations: 

I saw  six  of  the  local  sentries  going  back  with  cap- 
guns  and  ammunition  pouches  to  E — , after  the  previ- 
ous day’s  market,  and  later  in  the  day,  when  in  the  fac- 
tory grounds,  two  armed  sentries  came  up  to  the  agent 
as  he  walked,  guarding  sixteen  natives,  five  men  tied 
neck  by  neck,  with  five  untied  tcomen  and  six  young 
children.  This  somewhat  embarrassing  situation,  it  was 
explained  to  me,  was  due  to  the  persistent  failure  of 
the  people  of  the  village  these  persons  came  from  to 
supply  its  proper  quota  of  food.  These  people,  1 was 
told,  had  just  been  captured  “on  the  river”  by  one  of 
the  sentries  placed  there  to  watch  the  waterway.  They 
had  been  proceeding  in  their  canoes  to  some  native  fish- 
ing grounds,  and  were  espied  and  brought  in.  I asked 
if  the  children  also  held  were  responsible  for  food  sup- 
plies, and  they,  along  with  an  elderly  woman,  were  re- 
leased, and  told  to  run  over  to  the  Mission,  and  go  to 
school  there.  This  they  did  not  do,  but  doubtless  re- 
turned to  their  homes  in  the  recalcitrant  village.  The 
remaining  five  men  and  four  women  were  led  off  to  the 
“maison  des  otages,”  under  guard  of  the  sentry. 

“On  September  2,”  says  l\Ir.  Casement,  contin- 
uing the  narrative  of  his  experiences  in  this  dis- 

18 


Bo^*s  Hand  Severed  a Sentiy 


trict,  “I  met  when  walking  in  the  A.  B.  I.  R. 
grounds  with  the  subordinate  agent  of  the  factory, 
a file  of  fifteen  women,  under  the  guard  of  three 
unarmed  sentries,  who  were  being  brought  in  from 
the  adjoining  villages,  and  were  led  past  me. 
These  women,  who  were  evidently  wives  and 
mothers,  it  was  explained  in  answer  to  my  inquiry, 
had  been  seized  in  order  to  compel  their  husbands 
to  bring  in  antelope  or  other  meat  which  was  due. 

“As  I was  leaving  Bongandanga,  on  the  third 
of  September,  several  elderly  head-men  of  the 
neighboring  villages  were  putting  off  in  their 
canoes  to  the  opposite  forest,  to  get  meat  where- 
with to  redeem  their  wivfes,  whom  I had  seen  ar- 
rested the  previous  day.  I learned  later  that  the 
husband  of  one  of  these  women  brought  in,  two 
days  afterwards,  to  the  Mission  station,  his  infant 
daughter,  who,  being  deprived  of  her  mother,  had 
fallen  seriously  ill,  and  whom  he  could  not  feed. 
At  the  request  of  the  missionary  this  woman  was 
released  on  the  fifth  of  September.” 

Leaving  Bongandanga,  the  limit  of  his  journey, 
on  September  3,  Mr.  Casement  returned  down  the 
Lopori  and  Lulongo  rivers.  On  the  ninth,  at 
night,  the  natives  of  a village  brought  him  a 
lad  16  years  old  “whose  right  hand  was  missing.” 
His  hand  “had  been  cut  off  by  a sentry  of  the  La 
Lulanga  Company.”  In  addition  to  this  mutila- 
tion, the  lad  had  been  “shot  in  the  shoulder  blade 
and,  as  a consequence,  was  deformed.”  The  next 
morning  many  of  the  neighboring  people  came  to 
see  Mr.  Casement. 

They  brought  with  them  three  individuals  who  had 
been  shockingly  wounded  by  gun-fire,  two  men  and  a 
very  small  hoy,  not  more  than  six  years  of  age,  and  a 
fourth — a boy  child  of  six  or  seven — whose  right  hand 
was  cut  off  at  the  wrist. 

These  people  were  immediately  followed  by  a number 
of  natives,  who  came  before  me,  bringing  a small  boy  of 
not  more  than  seven  years  of  age,  whose  right  hand  was 

19 


Sixt^  Women  IV ere  Crucified 


gone  at  the  wrist.  This  child,  whose  name  was  F F, 
they  had  brought  from  the  village  of  N — . 

Mr.  Casement  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  wrongs  to  which  he  refers  became,  in  certain 
instances,  so  notorious,  and  led  to  such  outbreaks 
among  the  natives,  as  to  become  the  subject  of 
official  investigation.  He  cites  one  case  in  which 
a British  colored  subject — a native  of  Lagos,  who 
alone  with  three  Europeans  had  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  one  of  the  concessionaire  companies 
(“Compagnie  Anversoise  du  Commerce  au  Congo”) 
— sought  his  help.  Mr.  Casement  says,  “The  facts 
charged  against  the  British  colored  subject  were, 
among  others,  that  he  had  illegally  arrested  women 
and  kept  them  in  illegal  detention  at  his  trading 
stations,  and  it  was  alleged  that  many  of  these 
women  died  of  starvation  while  thus  confined.  This 
man  himself,  when  I visited  him  in  Boma  gaol  in 
March,  1901,  said  that  more  than  100  women  and 
children  had  died  of  starvation  at  his  hands,  but 
the  responsibility  for  both  their  arrest  and  his  own 
lack  of  food  to  give  them  was  due  to  the  orders  and 
neglect  of  his  superiors.” 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  agents  condemned 
to  long  terms  of  imprisonment  for  crimes  con- 
nected with  the  incident  to  which  Mr.  Casement 
refers,  have  already  been  released,  although  the 
indictment  against  them  included  on  their  own  con- 
fession the  crucifying  of  60  rvomen. 

These  are  but  instances  of  what  one  man, 
unassisted  by  officers  of  the  government  or  the 
agents  of  the  rubber  industry,  saw  and  heard  in  a 
brief  visit  to  those  points  where  the  government  is 
dealing  directly  and  unreservedly  with  the  natives. 
One  sees  the  process  of  “civilization”  here,  not  as 
described  in  the  vague  formulas  of  official  reports, 
or  as  it  appears  to  the  casual  observer  making  his 
investigation  under  the  bland  auspices  of  the 
King’s  officers, — but  as  it  is,  in  its  naked  reality. 

20 


Another  Point  of  View 


But  there  is  another  point  of  view,  too  little  con- 
sidered, from  which  this  process  of  “moral  and 
material  regeneration”  of  the  Congo  can  and  should 
be  considered.  Let  us  turn  now  to  that. 


21 


Ill 

What  then  is  our  neighbor?  Thou  hast  regarded  his 
thought,  his  feeling,  as  somehow  different  from  thine. 
Thou  hast  said,  "A  pain  in  him  is  not  like  a pain  in  me, 
but  something  far  easier  to  bear.”  He  seems  to  thee  a 
little  less  living  than  thou;  his  life  is  dim,  it  is  cold,  it 
is  a pale  fire  beside  thy  own  burning  desires.  . . . 
So,  dimly  and  by  instinct  thou  hast  lived  with  thy 
neighbor,  and  thou  hast  known  him  not,  being  blind. 
Thou  hast  made  (of  him)  a thing,  no  Self  at  all.  Have 
done  with  this  illusion,  and  simply  try  to  learn  the 
truth.  Pain  is  pain,  joy  is  joy,  everywhere,  even  as  in 
thee.  In  all  the  songs  of  the  forest  birds;  in  all  the 
cries  of  the  wounded  and  dying,  struggling  in  the  cap- 
tor’s power;  in  the  boundless  sea  where  the  myriads  of 
water-creatures  strive  and  die;  amid  all  the  countless 
hordes  of  savage  men;  in  all  sickness  and  sorrow;  in  all 
e.xultation  and  hope,  everywhere,  from  the  lowest  to  the 
noblest,  the  same  conscious,  burning,  wilful  life  is  found, 
endlessly  manifold  as  the  forr.  s of  the  living  creatures, 
unquenchable  as  the  fires  of  the  sun,  real  as  these  im- 
pulses that  even  now  throb  in  thine  own  little  selfish 
heart.  Lift  up  thy  eyes,  behold  that  life,  and  then  turn 
away,  and  forget  it  as  thou  canst;  but,  if  thou  hast 
known  that,  thou  hast  begun  to  know  thy  duty. 

Phof.  Josiah  Rotce, 

Religious  Aspects  of  Philosophy,  quoted  by  Prof. 

William  J.vmes  in  his  “Talks  to  Teachers.” 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE  “RUBBER  WARS/’ 
TOLD  BY  CONGO  CHILDREN. 

It  is  a singular  fact  in  regard  to  this  contro- 
versy, in  which,  particularly  from  the  side  of  the 
Congo  government,  so  much  is  heard  about  the 
rights  of  nations,  the  interests  of  rubber  merchants 
and  the  bold  enterprise  of  the  king,  that  one  hears 

22 


Severed  Hands  as  Vouchers 


almost  nothing  in  regard  to  the  rights  and  intei** 
ests  of  the  native.  In  this  struggle,  in  which  the 
future,  indeed  the  very  existence,  not  only  of  him^ 
self,  but  of  his  race  is  at  stake,  he  is  a mute,  help- 
less, uncomprehending  spectator.  It  is  from  others, 
mostly,  that  we  know  what  there  is  to  know  of  his 
sad  story.  Others  have  described  to  us  the  wasted 
villages,  the  troops  of  women  toiling  in  the  chains, 
the  herds  of  orphan  children,  surplusage  of  wast^ 
ing  wars,  huddled,  naked  aild  shivefing  on  the 
decks  of  Steamers  in  transit  from  the  interior  to 
the  coast.  Others  have  told  us  of  the  severed 
hands,  those  ghastlj^  vouchers,  with  which  the  na^ 
live  soldier  attests  the  fact  that  his  cartridges  have 
not  been  “wasted.”  But  in  all  this  we  have  not 
heard  the  voice  of  the  native  himself.  At  most  we 
have  seen  him  in  photographs,  stretching  mute, 
mutilated  and  uncomprehending  hands  to  that 
world  beyond  the  forest  and  the  sea,  whence  he 
has  been  told  help  may  some  day  come. 

It  is  in  this  report  of  Roger  Casement,  who 
knows  Africa,  and  is  a friend  of  her  people,  that 
the  native,  almost  for  the  first  time,  speaks  to  us 
in  his  own  person.  In  this  report — that  is  what 
makes  it  remarkable  as  an  official  document — we 
gather  from  his  own  lips,  as  it  were,  what  a “rub- 
ber raid”  is  and  means  to  the  hunted  wretches  who 
have  fled  to  the  bush,  or  from  the  security  of  some 
tree  top  have  watched  the  destruction  of  their 
homes  and  the  slaughter  of  their  families. 
Some  of  these  stories,  and  the  most  pathetic  ones, 
are  those  of  children. 

Out  of  many  of  these  stories  accredited  by  those 
who  saw  the  children  and  heard  their  artless  testi- 
mony, passages  from  four  are  reproduced  here, 
The  first  contains  the  following: 

WTien  we  were  told  by  the  men  that  the  soldiers  were 
coming  we  began  to  run  away,  RIy  mother  told  me  to 

23 


Made  to  Carr^  Basinets  of  Hands 


wait  for  her  until  she  got  some  things  ready  to  take  with 
us,  but  I told  her  we  must  go  now,  as  the  soldiers  were 
coming.  I ran  away  and  left  my  mother,  and  went  with 
two  old  people  who  were  running  away,  but  we  were 
caught,  and  the  old  people  were  killed,  and  the  soldiers 
made  me  carry  the  baskets  with  the  things  these  dead 
people  had  and  the  hands  they  cut  off'.  ...  I went 
on  with  the  soldiers.  . . . Then  we  went  into  the 

bush  to  look  for  people,  and  we  heard  children  crying, 
and  a soldier  went  over  to  the  place  and  killed 
a mother  and  four  children.  . . . They  took  me 

to  , and  he  told  me  to  go  and  stay  with  the  soldier 

who  had  caught  me.  ...  I cannot  tell  how  many 
people  were  killed,  because  there  were  too  many  for  me 
to  count.  They  got  my  little  sister  and  killed  her,  and 
threw  her  into  a house,  and  set  fire  to  the  house.” 

The  second  tale  is  an  account  of  the  wanderings 
in  the  bush  of  two  children,  who,  in  their  flight, 
were  separated  from  their  parents.  It  chronicles 
their  fortunes  and  their  fears,  and  the  vain  efforts 
of  the  older  child  during  their  long  wanderings  in 
the  forest  to  save  her  baby  sister  from  the  soldiers 
who  were  hunting  them. 

After  she  had  been  a little  while  in  the  house  with 
her  little  brother  and  sister  she  heard  the  firing  of  guns. 
When  she  heard  that  she  took  up  her  little  sister  and  a 
big  basket  with  a lot  of  native  money  in  it,  but  she 
could  not  manage  both,  so  she  left  the  basket  behind 
and  ran  away  with  the  youngest  child;  the  little  boy  ran 
away  by  himself.  The  oldest  boys  had  gone  away  to 
wait  for  the  soldiers  at  the  other  town.  As  she  went 
past  she  heard  her  mother  calling  to  her,  but  she  told  her 
to  run  away  in  another  direction,  and  she  would  go  on 
with  the  little  sister.  She  found  her  little  sister  rather 
heavy  for  her,  so  she  could  not  run  very  fast,  and  a 
great  number  of  people  went  past  her,  and  she  was  left 
alone  with  the  little  one.  Then  she  left  the  main  road 
and  went  to  hide  in  the  bush.  When  night  came  on  she 
tried  to  find  the  road  again  and  follow  the  people  who 
had  passed  her,  but  she  could  not  find  them,  so  she  had 
to  sleep  in  the  bush  alone.  She  wandered  about  in  the 
bush  for  six  days,  then  she  came  upon  a town.  At  this 
town  she  found  that  the  soldiers  were  fighting  there,  too. 
Before  entering  the  town  she  dug  up  some  sweet  manioc 

24 


Kept  Her  for  the  White  Man 


to  eat,  because  she  was  very,  very  hungry.  She  went 
about  looking  for  a fire  to  roast  her  sweet  manioc,  but 
she  could  not  find  any.  Then  she  heard  a noise  as  of 
people  talking,  so  she  hid  her  little  sister  in  a deserted 
house,  and  went  to  see  those  people  she  had  heard  talk- 
ing, thinking  they  might  be  those  from  her  own  town; 
but  when  she  got  to  the  house  where  the  noise  was  com- 
ing from  she  saw  one  of  the  soldier’s  boys  sitting  at  the 
door  of  the  house,  and  then  also  she  could  not  quite 
understand  their  language.  Then  she  knew  that  they  were 
not  her  people,  so  she  took  fright  and  ran  away  in  an- 
other direction  from  where  she  had  put  her  sister.  After 
she  had  reached  the  outside  of  the  town  she  stood  still, 
and  remembered  that  she  would  be  scolded  by  her 
father  and  mother  for  leaving  her  sister,  so  she  went 
back  at  night.  She  came  upon  a house  where  the  white 
man  was  sleeping;  she  saw  the  sentry  on  a deck  chair 
outside  in  front  of  the  house,  apparently  asleep,  be- 
cause he  did  not  see  her  slip  past  him.  Then  she  came 
to  the  house  where  her  sister  was,  and  took  her,  and  she 
started  to  run  away  again.  They  slept  in  a deserted 
house  at  the  very  end  of  the  town.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing the  white  man  sent  out  the  soldiers  to  go  and  look 
for  people  all  over  the  town  and  in  the  houses.  S S 
was  standing  outside  in  front  of  the  house,  trying  to 
make  her  sister  walk  some,  as  she  was  very  tired,  but  the 
little  sister  could  not  run  away  through  weakness.  While 
they  were  both  standing  outside  the  soldiers  came  upon 
them  and  took  them  both.  One  of  the  soldiers  said; 
“We  might  keep  them  both,  the  little  one  is  not  bad- 
looking;”  but  the  others  said:  “No,  we  are  not  going 
to  carry  her  all  the  way;  we  must  kill  the  youngest  girl.” 
So  they  put  a knife  through  the  child’s  stomach,  and 
left  the  body  lying  there  where  they  had  killed  it. 

The  story  goes  on  to  tell  the  further  fortunes 
of  the  older  child  after  her  sister  had  been  killed. 

In  the  morning  the  soldiers  wanted  S S to’  go  and 
look  for  manioc  for  them,  but  she  was  afraid  to  go  out, 
as  they  looked  as  if  they  wanted  to  kill  her.  The 
soldiers  thrashed  her  very  much,  and  began  to  drag  her 
outside,  but  the  corporal  (N  N N)  came  and  took  her 
by  the  hand  and  said,  “We  must  not  kill  her,  we  must 
take  her  to  the  white  man.”  They  then  went  back  to  the 
town  where  the  officer  in  command  of  the  troops 
at  that  date  was,  and  they  showed  him  the  child. 
The  officer  handed  her  over  to  a soldier.  At  this  town 

25 


Brought  Severed  Hands  to  the  Officers 

she  found  that  they  had  caught  three  people,  and  among 
them  was  a very  old  woman,  and  the  cannibal  soldiers 
asked  the  oflScer  to  give  them  the  old  woman  to  eat,  and 
the  officer  told  them  to  take  her.  The  soldiers  took  the 
old  woman  and  cut  her  throat,  and  then  divided  her  and 
ate  her.  The  little  girl  saw  all  this  done. 

They  stayed  several  days  at  this  place,  then  the  officer 
asked  the  child  if  she  knew  all  the  towns  round  about, 
and  she  said  yes,  then  he  told  her  to  show  them  the  way, 
so  that  they  could  go  and  catch  jieople.  They  came  to 
a town,  and  found  only  one  woman,  who  was  dying  of 
sickness,  and  the  soldiers  killed  her  with  a knife.  At 
several  towns  they  found  no  people,  but  at  last  they 
came  to  a town  where  several  people  had  run  to,  as  they 
did  not  know  where  else  to  go,  because  the  soldiers  were 
fighting  everywhere.  At  this  town  they  killed  a lot  of 
people — men,  women  and  children — and  took  some  as 
prisoners.  They  cut  the  bands  off  those  they  had  killed, 
and  brought  them  to  the  officer.  They  spread  out  the 
hands  in  a row  for  the  officer  to  see.  After  that  they 
left  to  return  to  Bikoro.  They  took  a lot  of  prisoners 
with  them.  The  hands  which  they  had  cut  off  they  just 
left  lying,  because  the  white  man  had  seen  them,  so  they 
did  not  need  to  take  them  to  P. 

The  third  story  is  that  of  a young  girl  who  had 
seen  two  rubber  raids.  In  the  first,  being  small, 
she  slid  into  the  bush,  and  after  three  days  her 
grandmother  found  her  and  brought  her  home. 
This  is  her  story  as  reported  by  Mr.  Casement: 

She  belonged  to  the  village  of  R,  where  she  lived  with 
her  grandmother.  R was  attacked  by  the  State  soldiers 
long  ago.  It  was  in  S T’s  time.  She  does  not  know  if  he 
was  with  the  soldiers,  but  she  heard  the  bugle  blow  when 
they  were  going  away.  It  was  in  the  afternoon  when 
they  came,  they  began  catching  and  tying  the  people, 
and  killed  lots  of  them.  A lot  of  people — she  thinks 
perhaps  fifty — ran  away,  and  she  was  in  the  crowd  with 
them,  but  the  soldiers  came  after  them  and  killed  them 
all  but  herself.  She  was  small,  and  she  slid  into  the 
bush.  The  people  killed  were  many,  and  women — there 
were  not  many  children.  The  children  had  scattered 
when  the  soldiers  came,  but  she  staj’ed  with  the  big 
people,  thinking  she  might  be  safe. 

When  they  were  all  killed  she  waited  in  the  grass  for 
two  nights.  She  was  very  frightened,  and  her  throat 

26 


Hunted  by)  Soldiers  in  the  Bush 


was  sore  with  thirst,  and  she  looked  about  and  at  last 
she  found  some  water  in  a pot.  She  stayed  on  in  the 
grass  a third  night,  and  buffaloes  came  near  her  and  she 
was  very  frightened — and  they  went  away.  When  the 
morning  came  she  thought  she  would  be  better  to  move, 
and  went  away  and  got  up  a tree.  She  was  three  days 
without  food,  and  was  very  hungry.  In  the  tree  she 
was  near  her  grandmother’s  house,  and  she  looked 
around  and,  seeing  no  soldiers,  she  crept  to  her  grand- 
mother’s house  and  got  some  food  and  got  up  the  tree 
again.  The  soldiers  had  gone  away  hunting  for  buf- 
faloes, and  it  was  then  she  was  able  to  get  down  from 
the  tree.  The  soldiers  came  back,  and  they  came  towards 
the  trees  and  bushes  calling  out:  “Now  we  see  you;  come 
down,  come  down!’’  llus  they  used  to  do,  so  that  peo- 
ple, thinking  they  were  really  discovered,  should  give 
themselves  up;  but  she  thought  she  would  stay  on,  and 
so  she  stayed  up  the  tree.  Soon  afterwards  the  soldiers 
went,  but  she  was  still  afraid  to  come  down.  Presently 
she  heard  her  grandmother  calling  out  to  know  if  sne 
was  alive,  and  when  she  heard  her  grandmother’s  voice 
she  knew  the  soldiers  were  gone,  and  she  answered,  but 
her  voice  was  very  small — and  she  came  down  and  her 
grandmother  took  her  home. 

That  was  the  first  raid.  Soon  afterwards  when 
she  and  her  grandmother  were  living  at  another 
village  the  white  man  again  sent  the  soldiers.  The 
account  continues: 

Neither  her  own  people  nor  the  U U*  people,  where 
she  was  living,  knew  there  was  any  trouble  with  the 
Government,  so  they  were  surprised.  She  was  asleep. 
Her  grandmother — her  mother’s  mother — tried  to 

awaken  her,  but  she  did  not  know.  She  felt  the  shaking, 
but  she  did  not  mind  because  she  was  sleepy. 

The  soldiers  came  quickly  into  the  house — her  grand- 
mother rushed  out  just  before.  When  she  heard  the 
noise  of  the  soldiers  around  the  house,  and  saw  her 
grandmother  not  there,  she  ran  out  and  called  for  her 
grandmother;  and  as  she  ran  her  brass  anklets  made  a 
noise,  and  some  one  ran  after  and  caught  her  by  the  leg, 
and  she  fell  and  the  soldiers  took  her. 

They  were  taken  to  a canoe,  and  went  to  V ’V*.  The 
soldier  who  caught  her  was  the  sentry  there.  At  V V* 
she  was  kept  about  a week  with  the  sentry  and  when  the 
people  took  their  weekly  rations  over  to  P*  ^he  was 

27 


Children  Left  in  the  Bush  to  Die 


sent  over.  The  other  woman  who  was  taken  was 
ransomed  by  her  friends.  They  came  after  them  to 
V V*,  and  the  sentry  let  the  woman  go  for  750  rods. 
She  saw  the  money  paid.  Her  friends  came  to  ransom 
her,  too,  but  the  sentry  refused,  saying  the  white  man 
wanted  her  because  she  was  young — the  other  was  an  old 
woman  and  could  not  work. 

One  other  statement,  giving,  in  the  words  and 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  native,  an  account 
of  a fourth  expedition  in  the  interests  of  civiliza- 
tion and  the  extension  of  the  rubber  industry,  con- 
tains the  following  passage: 

When  we  began  to  run  away  from  the  fight,  we  ran 
away  many  times.  They  did  not  catch  me  because  1 
was  with  mother  and  father.  Afterwards  mother  died; 
four  days  passed,  father  died  also.  I and  an  older 
sister  were  left  with  two  younger  children,  and  then  the 
fighting  came  where  I had  run  to.  Then  my  elder  sister 
called  me:  “U  U,  come  here.”  I went.  She  said:  “JLet 
us  run  away,  because  we  have  not  any  one  to  take  care 
of  us.”  When  we  were  running  away  we  saw  a lot  of 
W W*  people  coming  towards  us.  We  told  them  to  run 
away;  war  was  coming.  They  said:  “Is  it  true?”  We 
said:  “It  is  true;  they  are  coming.”  The  W W*  people 
said:  “We  will  not  run  away;  we  did  not  see  the 
soldiers.”  Only  a little  while  they  saw  the  soldiers,  and 
they  were  killed.  We  stayed  in  a town  named  \ X*. 
A male  relative  called  me:  “U  U,  let  us  go;”  but  I did 
not  want  to.  The  soldiers  came  there;  1 ran  away  by 
myself;  when  I ran  away  I hid  in  the  bush.  While  1 was 
running  I met  with  an  old  man  who  was  running  from 
a soldier.  He  (the  soldier)  fired  a gun.  I was  not  hit, 
but  the  old  man  died.  Afterwards  they  caught  me  and 
two  men.  The  soldiers  asked:  “Have  you  a father  and 
mother?”  I answered,  “No.”  They  said  to  me:  “If  you 
do  not  tell  us  we  will  kill  you.”  1 said:  “Father  and 
mother  are  dead.”  After  that  my  oldest  sister  was 
caught,  too,  in  the  bush,  and  they  left  my  little  brother 
and  sister  alone  in  the  bush  to  die,  because  heavy  rain 
came  on,  and  they  had  not  had  anything  to  eat  for  days 
and  days.  At  night  they  tied  my  hands  and  feet  for 
fear  that  I should  run  away.  In  the  morning  they 
caught  three  people — two  had  children;  they  killed  the 
children. 

The  story  continues  with  this  incidental  refer- 

28 


Soldiers  Kill  a Bab^  IVho  Laughed 


ence  to  the  casual  killing  of  ten  children,  who  were 
so  young  as  to  be  an  encumbrance  to  the  expedi- 
tion: 

When  we  were  going  on  the  way  they  killed  ten 
children  because  they  were  very,  very  small;  they  killed 
them  in  the  water.  Then  they  killed  a lot  of  people,  and 
they  cut  off  their  hands  and  put  them  into  baskets  and 
took  them  to  the  white  man.  He  counted  out  the  hands 
— 200  in  all;  they  left  the  hands  lying. 

The  narrative  concludes  with  the  following  sum- 
mary statement  of  the  killing  of  an  irreverent 
baby  who  laughed,  the  murder  of  one  sister,  and 
the  selling  into  slavery  of  the  second. 

On  our  way,  when  we  were  coming  to  P*,  the  soldiers 
saw  a little  child,  and  when  they  went  to  kill  it  the  child 
laughed,  so  the  soldier  took  the  butt  of  the  gun  and 
struck  the  child  with  it,  and  then  cut  off  its  head.  One 
day  they  killed  my  half-sister  and  cut  off  her  head, 
hands,  and  feet  because  she  had  on  rings.  Her  name 
was  Q Q Q.  Then  they  caught  another  sister,  and  they 
sold  her  to  the  W W*  people,  and  now  she  is  a slave 
there. 

These  simple  tragic  narratives — through  which 
one  hears  always  the  quaint  and  plaintive  voice  of 
the  children — suggest  one  thing,  apparently  diffi- 
cult to  comprehend,  which  deserves  to  be  in- 
sistently repeated.  It  is  this:  the  present  condi- 
tion of  the  natives  is  not  'primarily  an  economic 
question,  nor  even  a question  of  the  rights  of  na- 
tions. It  is  a question  of  common  humanity. 

Take  but  one  moment  the  point  of  view  of  the 
hunted  native,  whose  lands,  labor,  and  all  whose 
fortunes,  present  and  future,  have  been  made  an 
object  of  a heartless  traffic^ — and  all  the  flimsj 
scenery  in  which  the  industrious  Bureaucrats  have 
sought  to  stage  the  story  of  Leopold’s  enterprise 
in  Africa,  all  the  tinsel  with  which  they  have  sought 
to  plaster  over  and  decorate  the  sad  havoc  he  has 
wrought  there,  falls  away,  and  one  sees  the  thing 

29 


The  Curse  of  Midas 


for  what  it  is — not  civilization  nor  progress,  but 
ruthless,  irreverent  and  alien  meddling  in  the  af- 
fairs and  fortunes  of  helpless  peoples,  accom- 
panied by  hideous  butcheries,  all  in  the  interests 
of  a clique  of  mercantile  free-booters. 

This  so-called  civilization  in  the  Congo  has  the 
curse  of  Midas  on  it.  At  its  touch  everything,  the 
most  vile  and  the  most  holy,  the  feasts  of  canni- 
bals, and  the  pious  prayers  of  saints,  smoking  vil- 
lages, and  the  pale  juice  of  the  rubber  vine,  the 
lusts  of  savages  and  the  wails  of  little  children; 
everything  has  been  somehow  and  somewhere 
minted  into  gold,  and  has  gone  to  swell  the  returns 
of  the  Antwerp  rubber  market. 


30 


Do  You  Want  an  Impartial  Investigation 
of  Conditions  in  the  Congo  State? 


The  Congo  Free  State  was  founded  in  the  interests  of 
international  peace,  and  for  tlie  protection  and  safe-guarding  of 
the  interests  of  the  native  peoples.  All  the  governments  of  the 
western  world  participated  in  its  formation,  hut  among  them 
the  United  States  was,  in  all  deliberations  which  led  to  the 
recognition  of  the  present  government  of  the  Congo  State  by 
western  Powers,  first  and  foremost. 

A Memorial  was  presented  to  Congress  last  spring,  asking 
that  the  United  States  government  join  with  the  Powem  of 
Europe  in  securing  an  international  inquirj*  into  present  con- 
ditions in  the  Congo.  Resolutions  repeating  or  endorsing  thus 
request  have  since  been  passed  by  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  of  Los  Angeles;  by  Baptist 
Churches  of  the  United  States,  at  their  meeting  in  Cleveland, 
last  May ; by  the  American  Board  of  Commissionei's  for  Foreign 
Missions  and  the  Triemaial  National  Council  of  the  Consfrearational 
Churches  at  meetings  held  at  Grinnell  and  Des  Moines,  Iowa, 
in  October ; by  the  General  Conference  of  the  Seventh  Day  Bap- 
tists at  Norton ville,  Kansas  ; by  the  Joint  Synod  of  the  Lutheran 
Churches  at  Fremont,  Ohio,  in  August  last;  by  the  Peace 
Congress  at  Boston  in  October;  and  by  numerous  other  organi- 
zations. If  you  desire  to  promote  action  by  our  government 
favorable  to  an  impartial  investigation,  you  can  do  so  by  writ- 
ing to  Senators  of  the  United  States  and  to  the  Congressman 
of  your  district  a letter  similar  to  that  of  which  a model 
follows : 

To  the  Honorable 

U.  S.  Senator  (or  Member  of  Congress)  from 


Dear  Sir: — As  one  of  your  const  it  utents,  I take  the  liberty  of 
writing  to  you  in  regard  to  a Memorial  now  before  Congress  relative 
to  the  situation  in  the  Independent  State  of  the  Congo.  I respectfully 
request  that,  so  far  as  is  consistent  icith  your  judgment  as  to  what  is 
ivise  and  proper,  you  will  do  tvhat  you  can  to  secure  action  by  our 
Government  favorable  to  an  impartial  investigation  of  conditions  in 
the  Congo  State.  I am  Very  truly  yours. 


For  any  information  desired,  address 

THE  CONGO  REFORM  ASSOCIATION,  P.O.  Box,  3707,  Boston,  Mass. 


STATEMENT  OF  JOSEPH  CONRAD, 

The  Novelist,  Formerly  in  Service  on  the 
Upper  Congo,  in  Regard  to  the  Congo  State 

* It  is  an  extraordinary  thing  that  the  conscience  of  Europe,  which 
seventy  years  ago  put  down  the  slave  trade  on  humanitarian  grounds,  tol- 
erates the  Congo  State  to-day.  It  is  as  if  the  moral  clock  had  been  put  j 
back  many  hours.  And  yet  nowadays,. if  I were  to  overwork  my  horse  so  ] 
as  to  destroy  its  happiness  or  physical  well-being,  I should  be  hauled  before 
a magistrate.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  black  man — say  of  Upoto — is  deserv- 
ing of  as  much  humanitarian  regard  as  any  animal,  since  he  has  nerves,  feels 
pain,  can  be  made  physically  miserable.  But,  as  a matter  of  fact,  his  hap- 
piness and  misery  are  much  more  complex  than  the  misery  or  happiness  of 
animals,  and  deserving  of  greater  regard.  He  shares  with  us  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  universe  in  which  we  live — no  small  burden.  Barbarism se 
is  no  crime  deserving  of  a heavy  visitation,  and  the  Belgians  are  worse  than 
the  seven  plagues  of  Egypt,  insomuch  that  in  that  case  it  was  a punishment 
sent  for  a definite  trangression ; but  in  this  the  Upoto  man  is  not  aware  of 
any  transgression,  and  therefore  can  see  no  end  to  the  infliction.  It  must 
appear  to  him  very  awful  and  mysterious,  and  I confess  it  appears  so  to  me, 
too.  The  slave  trade  has  been  abolished,  and  the  Congo  State  exists 
to-day.  This  is  very  remarkable.  What  makes  it  more  remarkable  is  this : 
the  slave  trade  was  an  old-established  form  of  commercial  activity ; it  was 
not  the  monopoly  of  one  small  country,  established  to  the  disadvantage  of 
the  rest  of  the  civilized  world,  in  defiance  of  International  treaties  and  in 
brazen  disregard  of  humanitarian  declarations.  But  the  Congo  State, 
created  yesterday,  is  all  that,  and  yet  it  exists.  It  is  very  mysterious. 
One  is  tempted  to  exclaim  (as  poor  Thiers  did  in  1871),  “II  n’y  a pas 
d’Europe.”  And  the  fact  remains  that  in  1903,  seventy  years  or  so  after  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade  (because  it  was  cruel),  there  exists  in  Africa  a 
Congo  State,  created  by  the  act  of  European  Powers,  where  ruthless, 
systematic  cruelty  towards  the  blacks  is  the  basis  of  administration,  and 
bad  faith  towards  all  the  other  States  the  basis  of  commercial  policy. — 
Quoted  by  the  London  “Morning  Post”  in  a review  of  “Leopold’s  Rule  in 
Africa”  by  E.  D.  Morel. 


*Mr.  Conrad  has  narrated  his  experiences  while  in  service  on  the  Upper  Congo  in  the  story, 

**The  Heart  of  Darkness,”  published  in  the  volume  entitled  “Youth/* **  McClure,  Phillips  & Co., 


Two  or  three  days  after  a fight  a dead  mother  was  found  with  two  of  her  children.  The 
mother  was  shot  and  the  right  hand  taken  off.  On  one  side  was  the  elder  child,  also  shot  and  the 
right  hand  also  taken  off.  On  the  other  side  was  the  younger  child,  with  its  right  hand  cut  off  : 
but  the  child,  still  living,  was  resting  against  the  mother’s  breast.  I myself  saw  the  child. — Extract 
from  the  testimony  of  Rev.  E.  K.  Sjoblom,  a Swedish  Missionary  of  the  American  Baptist 
Missioyiary  Unions  printed  in  the  Memorial  to  Confess 


FOR  FURTHER  INFORMATION  IN  REGARD  TO 
CONDITIONS  IN  THE  CONGO  FREE 
STATE,  READ: 

E.  D.  Morel’s  “Leopold’s  Rule  in  Africa.” 

H.  Fox  Bourne’s  “Civilization  in  Congoland.” 
“Real  Conditions  in  the  Congo  Free  State.” 

By  Paul  S.  Reinsch,  Professor  of  Political  Science  in  the 
University  of  Wisconsin,  North  American  Review,  Feb- 
ruary, 1904. 

Memorial  Concerning  Conditions  in  the  Inde- 
pendent State  of  the  Congo. 

Presented  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  by  John  T. 
Morgan,  Senator  from  Alabama. 

The  Congo  State  and  Its  Autocrat. 

I.  Leopold,  Emperor  of  the  Congo,  W.  T.  Stead. 

II.  Personal  Observations  of  Congo  Misgovemment,  Rev. 
W.  M.  Morrison,  American  Review  of  Reviews,  July,  1903. 

The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World. 

1.  Belgian  Treatment  of  Congo  Natives,  by  E.  D.  Morel. 
11.  Instances  of  Belgian  Cruelty  in  Africa,  Rev.  A.  E. 
Scrivener,  Bolobo  Mission,  Upper  Congo  River. 

“Recent  Atrocities  in  the  Congo  State.” 

Robert  E.  Park,  Secretary  of  the  Congo  Reform  Associa- 
tion, The  World  To-day,  October,  1904. 

“Cruelty  in  the  Congo  Country.” 

Booker  T.  Washington,  The  Outlook,  October  8,  1904. 


